Ubuntu has come under a decent amount of flack over the past few months, particularly over their decision to use the 'Dash Search' to return results from Amazon by default in their most recent release.

"This is getting sidetracked from my original point, but one of these things is not at all like the other (and hence not hypocritical at all):"

I honestly don't blame you for wanting to reinvent (insert your technologies here), but it most certainly is hypocritical to judge those who have their own ideas about reinventing the other technologies that are important to them. It's best to simply admit that you have a different passion than to arrogantly proclaim that your ideas are worth pursuing and theirs are not. Unless you're paying somebody to do what you ask, the choice of how someone spends their time is nobody's business but their own.

"OTOH, I have no interest in just hopping onto some random FOSS project just so I can inflate their tribal headcount or feel important now I'm part of the larger whole."

That's totally your prerogative, however don't you admit that having other people to join in on the promotional effort can make all the difference in a project sinking or floating? Even for your current project, having others join you could be a huge boon.

"I already have a history of approaching more orthodox devs offering constructive criticism, being rebuffed (something about challenging their world view...), and in response going off and writing my own product that consequently boots theirs into oblivion."

Opinions will be all across the board, especially with linux we're a highly diverse group. If you want 100% agreement, well you'll never get it, but that can be good since it inhibits group think. Obviously disagreements can give rise to tensions, but the great thing about linux is that, developers can always implement their own ideas without anybody else's permission, just like you did.

"(So...hey, instead of me joining someone else's project, perhaps others should try joining one of mine for a change?:p)"

That's fine, but if your attitude here is at all indicative of your personality in real life, there's a risk that your general negativity towards other FOSS developers will drive them away from you. Maybe I'm talking at the wind here, but is it conceivable to you that if you respect other developers then they're more likely to respect you as well?

"That's pure defeatist talk: 'we can't do everything ourselves, so let's do nothing'. Not to mention complete and utter bollocks - remember, it took just five guys to found the entire freaking WWW [1][2]. I rest my case."

I think you misunderstood me, we could obviously write the protocols & software, but the real challenge is actually solving the chicken and egg problem and getting everyone to hop on board. Otherwise it'll just be a niche solution that will fall into obscurity like so many before it. We *need* the participation of groups much greater than ourselves to become invested in the project if it's going to succeed at displacing something like email.